Illuminated sign



March 21, 1956 W. E. JARY 5 9 ILLUMINATED SIGN Filed June 30, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet l WEJM Jr. 5:

Patented Mar. 21 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE, v

r 2,501,523 i I; ILLUMINATED SIGN v William E. Jary, Fort Worth, Tex.

Application June 30, 1947, Serial No. 758,137

1 Claim. (Cl. 40-130) The present invention relates generally to display apparatus, and more particularly to a display or advertising sign.

In carrying out a thorough advertising program covering merchandise or services, which may include general outdoor or newspaper and magazine advertising, it is highly desirable that means he provided for a merchant to display temporary advertising at his place of business which may be easily and economically changed from time to time to coincide with'changes in his general advertising.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an advertising sign having removable and interchangeable display panels.

Another object of the invention is to provide an advertising sign having a portion thereof constructed and arranged to receive and support removable display panels and a portion adapted to carry permanent legends.

. A further object of the invention resides in the provision of an illuminated sign having removable display panels, wherein portions of the illuminating means act to guide said panels during insertion and removal thereof and to form supporting means therefor when the panels are in display position.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a reading of the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a front elevational view of an advertising sign embodying the present invention,

Figure 2 is an end elevational view of the sign of Figure 1 and showing a removable door,

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Figure 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows,

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially on the line 4-4 of Figure 1, also looking in the direction of the arrows,

Figure 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the sign with the door and advertising panels removed, and

Figure 6 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially on the line 6-6 of Figure 1.

In general, the advertising sign of the present invention includes a base, a substantially rectangular open frame extending upwardly therefrom within which display panels are adapted to be removably disposed, a top or cover member, permanent legends secured to the base portion, and means for illuminating the display panels.

According to the present preferred form of the invention, the various parts of the main body of the device are formed of sheet metal; Such material is not expensive and it easily lends itself to attractive ornamentation; Further, it is readily bendable into the particular form deesired or may be formed in sectionswhich may be welded, bolted, or otherwise secured together as required.

Referring now to the drawings, referencenue meral I8 indicates a horizontally extending supporting arm which may be suitably secured at its inner end by means of a bracket 1 l to a building wall l2, and reference numeral 13 indicates supporting straps secured to the upper portion of the sign and having supporting hooks M for removably attaching the sign to the supporting arm It).

The base portion 16 of the sign is hollow and substantially rectangular i in cross section and may include a depending ornamental'wallsection IT. The base section lGalso comprisesan upper wall l8 extending horizontally of the sign and spaced, parallel, vertically extending side walls l9 and 2! which may be joined by curved, ornamental end walls, as shown.

Any desired permanentlegend such as; letters 22 and 23, of any desired shape or material may be positioned along each of the side walls l9 and 2| of the bottom section l6, being suitably secured thereto as by braces 24 and 26, and may, if desired, be illuminated in any desired manner (not shown).

Secured to the upper face l8 of the bottom section l6 and adjacent the opposite ends thereof are a pair of spaced parallel vertically extending end members 21 and 28. The upper frame member or header 29 is hollow and substantially rectangular in cross section and extends horizontally between the upper portions of the end members 21 and 28 in parallel relation to the base l6, thus forming an open frame to receive removable display panels in a maimer to more fully hereinafter appear. The outer edges of the end member 21 may be bent first inwardly horizontally of the open frame as at 3|, then laterally inwardly as at 32, and again back upon itself in an outwardly horizontal direction as at 33, forming hollow rectangular shaped guides extending inwardly of the frame structure and which are laterally spaced from each other to provide a vertically extending channel 34 between the faces 33 thereof.

The opposite upright end portion 28 of the frame may be similarly formed, but the outer face thereof, instead of being integral, as in the structure of the end member 21, may comprise a plate or cover 36 which may be removably attached to the upright guides 28 in any suitable manner, thus providing an opening through which display panels may be inserted or removed from the open frame.

To provide for illumination, a pair of curved and elongated reflectors 31 and 38 may be suitably secured to the under side of the header or upper frame member 29, extending substantially the full length thereof, as shown, and may be provided with: suitable brackets (not shown) to receive slightly spaced, longitudinally extending electric lamps 30 and 30', preferably of the elongated gaseous discharge tube type. Similarly, the upper wall i 8 of the frame base l6 may be provided with oppositely disposed reflectors 38 and 40, having spaced horizontally extending gaseous discharge tubes 4| and 42. The: lamptubes 303ll' and 4l42 are, of course, connected to a suitable source of electrical supply- (not shown).

It will 'be noted that the pairs of reflectors 38-37 and 39-40 are laterally spaced to provide horizontally extending channels 43 and 44' along the inner faces of the upper and lower frame members 28 and f6 respectively. These channels 43 and M are aligned with the vertically extending channels 34 and 35 formed in the respective' end portions of the frame. Thus, a complete guide channel and support extends entirely around the inner periphery of the open portion of the frame.

In accordance with this invention, advertising panels 46' and 41 may be inserted in this peripheral channel through the opening formed by removal of the door 35 in the end 28 of the frame, and will be supported entirely around the peripheries thereof, reflectors 31-48 and 39-48 forming the upper and lower guides and supports while the frame ends 21 and 28 are shaped to guide and support the panel ends. It will be appreciated that the panels 46 and 41 may bear indications on one or both sides thereof so that they may be reversed ifdesired, and, when backto-back, will be of interest from both sides of the sign.

It will be noted that by the use of the invention disclosed herein a national advertiser can display a miniature duplication of his outdoor campaign advertiser at the point of purchase of the goods. By the use of the changeable panels the replicas of the advertisers twenty-four sheet outdoor advertising can be set up and changed as frequently as desired.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications in construction and design may be made in the device as herein shown and described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, which is to be limited only by the appended claim.

What I claim is:

In an advertising sign, a hollow top frame member, a hollow bottom frame member and spaced pairs of tubular end frame members secured together in a manner forming an open frame to receive a removable display panel, a pair of parallel' elongated light deflectors extending along the inner face of said upper frame member and being laterally spaced from each other sufiiciently to provide a guide channel for the upper edge of said panel, an oppositely disposed vertically aligned pair of parallel elongated light deflectors extending along the inner face of said lower frame member and also being'laterally spaced from each other to provide a guide channel for the lower edge of said panel, and lighting means associated with each of said deflectors.

WILLIAM E. J ARY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED I STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 758,088 Mixer Apr. 26, 1904 802,646 Kettles Oct. 24, 1905 1,205,767 Lush Nov. 21, 1916 1,965,118 Higgins July 3, 1934 

